Paper-feeding machine



' (10 Model.) J. M. BLAISDELL'.

PAPER FEEDING MACHINE. I

' Patented May 31,1898.

15- they are to be operated upon by other instru- 5.; forced so that the shcct,instead of beingbodily c tes-M. nLAI'sDELL, F WINTHROP ,MAssAcnUsE'rTs; ASSIGNOR TO THE PERFECTIONLABELING MACHINE COMPANY, OF MAINE. I

PAPER-F-EEDiNG MACHINE.

srEcI-FroArmN formingpart of Letters Patent/No. 604,892, dated May 31,1898.

- Application filed'September 3, 1w. Serial No. 650,498."(N0 model.)

.To all whom it'may concern.-

' Beit known-that I, JAMES M. BLAISDEIIL,

v acitizen of the United States, residingin W'inthrop, county ofsuffolk, and State of Massan5 chusetts, have invented-an Improvement in Devices forFecding Sheets of Paper, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like letters on the drawings representiO ing like parts.

1 The present invention relates to an apparatusfor feeding sheets of paper from a stack or pile when it is desired to transfer the sheets one by 'one frorn the*pile to a position where mentalitiesas, for example, in case of sheets of .paper whichare to be fed to a printing- .prcss or labels which are to be applied to packages. j

-In accordance with the invention the sheets are fed from a pile and the top sheet is caused to be acted upon by atmospheric pressure to force the same into contact with a suitable surface and separate it from the sheet lying :next below, the action of the atmospheric pressure being progressivethat is to say, acting on succeeding portions of the sheet, a portion of which is retained stationary with relation to the pile, between which and the 39 surface against which the sheet is forced a relative change of position is produced. This relative. change of position produces a correspondin g change of position of the sheet with relation to the 'surface\against' which it is sfi'cl'edup, so to speak, is progressively acted upon,a portion only being foreedagainst. the surface when the surface first arrives at its operative position, the remainder being grad- 4e,;ua lly drawn into contact with the surface in A the change of position thereof relative to that of the surface of the sheet.

The apparatus embodying the invention comprisesa support for the pile of sheets and a ,j-sheet-pieker, as it may be called, the said 'she.et'-picker consisting of a chamber, from which the air is parti all y exhausted and which has an inlet in the wall thereof, through which the air tends to enter, so that'a sheet adjacent to the said wall near the inletwill beacted' contact with the said wall over the inlet. The

apparatus is further provided with means for effecting a change of position of said sheetpicker with relation to the sheetsupport, whereby one of said parts is caused to move past the'other, so that that portion of the sheet which first becomes adjacent to the in let will be first acted upon by the atmospheric pressure and the remainder thereof progressively subjected to pressure in the relative change of position aforesaid. As herein shown, the sheet-picker comprises a rotatable drum or cylinder having one or more inlets arranged along the periphery thereof, so that in the rotation of the drum each inlet will pass the sheets, which are supported in a pile, thetop of which is adjacent to the periphery of the drum.

further provided with means whereby the sheets are retained stationary with relation to the support when they are first acted upon by the atmosphcric pressure,-so that the drum or sheet-picker while attracting the sheet will 7 5 move alongthe surface of the same, whereby the sheet is, as'itwere, smoothedv into contact with the surface of the drum until substantially Wholly separated from the remainder of the pile and wholly picked up ready to be transferred. p

' The device is also shown as providedwith means whereby that portion of the sheet which has been engaged to hold the sheet stationary during the progressive actionabove described is subsequently disengaged or released, the release of the sheet taking place after the main portion of the sheet has been. drawn over the inlet, as above described.

' After the sheet has been picked up a separated from the'rest, as above described, it is obvious that any suitable devices may be employed for removing the same from the chamber at the desired position-such, for example, as a pair of nippers on the platen or 5 cylinder ofa printing-press, toward which the sheets, are commonly pushed by hand-or if :thechamber be stationary and the support 4 movable the sheet may be merely dropped by otherwise closingthe i-nl the chamber.

upon by atmgpfigric pressure and drawn into- Figure 1 is aside elevation of a suflicient The apparatus embodying the-invention'is 70' et or letting air into roo portion of the feeding device to illustrate the invention. Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the same. Fig. 3 is a side elevation showing the parts in a differentposition from that shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a rear elevation or view of the machine as looked at from the right of Fig. 3; and Fig. 5 is a vertical section, on a small scale, of the chamber.

The sheet-picking device a is shown as comprising a closed traveling chamber having one or more inlets aflwhich are shown as sets of perforations in one of its walls, the said chamber beingherein shown as a rotatable cylinder from which the air is con tin ually exhausted or drawn out, as through an outlct-tubeA. Each of the openings a is shown as consisting of a number of small perforatious covering a space substantially the same in area and shape as that of the sheet of paper which is to be picked up, so that when the paper lies in contact therewith it will close the openings and be held snuglytagainst the outer wall of the chamber by atmospheric pressure.

The sheets of paper which are to be operated upon are piled up, so that the top of the pile is adjacent to the surface of the movable chamber or sheet-picking device, which will hereinafter be referred to as the earrier,so as to be picked up by suction as the openings (t travel by. The carrier (1 is herein shown as provided with a series of such inlets,which may be of any desired number, so that a number of sheets can be carried forward at the same time.

To maintain the top of the pile always at substantially the same level, as the sheets are picked off, the pile' of sheets is supported upon a 1l10\ t. "J shelf orsupport I), provided with means whereby it cqnsta ntlyjends to move toward the snrfaceof the carrier, so that as each sheet is picked off the next sheet, which is then at the top of the pile, is moved to substantially the position originally occupied by the sheet which has becnpicked off. As herein shown, the said support I) is connected, as by a cord 0 to a weight 0 the said cord passing over a pulley 0, so that the downward tendency of the weight produces a corresponding upward tendency of the support or movement thereof toward the surface of the carrier.

To determine the or presser-foot (Z, which is adapted to engage the top sheet when it is in the proper position and keep the shelf from rising until the said top sheet is picked off and the next sheet is engaged by the retaining device.

To insure the separation of from those underneath it, the vice (l is arranged to engage the edge of the sheet which is first reached by the inlet a or, in other words, the rearedge of the sheet,

theconstruction and operation being shown to the best advantage in Fig. 2. It will be seen, therefore, that as the inlet reaches the pile 1 which the retaining position of the pile, the" machine 1s provided with a retaining device the top sheet retaining deof sheets the atmospheric pressure under the top sheet will tend to lift the body thereof away from the point where it is held by the retaining device, as shown, and in thus acting upon the sheet, instead of lifting the sheet bodily, will lift only the rear portion thereof, so that the front end will be drawn horizontally along the surface of the next sheet, the operation being such that the effect of adhesion between the adjacent sheets will be overcome, so that there is no tendency to pick up more than one sheet at a time. As the carrier travels forward, moreover, the body of the sheet will be gradually sucked up against the wall thereof over the inlet, while the rear end of the sheet is held by the retaining device, so that the sheet is gradually drawn or spread along the surface of the carrier without any possibility of displacement, each successive sheet taking the same position relative to the carrier with great accuracy. This spreading and smoothing process will obviously continue as long as the sheet is held stationary with relation to the support, or, in other words, as long as the retaining-device will operate to withstand the tendency of the carrier to drag away the sheet. It is desirable, however, to cause the retaining device to actually release the sheet at a predetermined time in the operation, and for this purpose the por tion (Z of said device which engages the sheet, is adapted to be lifted after the main portion of the sheet has reached the desired position with relation to the carrier, and, as herein shown, the said retaining device is normally held in position by means of a spring (Z and provided with a projection (Ziu'hieh is adapted to be operated upon by the cooperatin g projection (1 upon the carrier, the said projection a being arranged, as best shown in Fig. 3, to lift the retaining device just at the time when the front edge of the sheet has been drawn into contact with the front portion of the inlet to the carrier. It will be seen, therefore, from the foregoing description that the sheet is drawn and smoothed out upon the surface ofthe carrier and maintained in position during this operation by the retaining device until the whole sheet, with the exception of a small portion or flap at the rear thereof, is in contact with the carrier, after the said small portion or flap to be drawn up against the inlet a so that the whole sheet is then held in place by pressure and carried forward.

In order that the presser-foot or retaining device may be lifted wholly out of contact with the top of the pile to release the top sheet, as above described, and to prevent the next sheet from being frietionally engaged by the under surface of the top sheet as it is drawn out, the device is provided with means for arresting the upward movement of the support at this time, and, as herein shown, the projection d from the said retaining device d is arranged to extend over the periph- ICC cry of the pulley c", the said pulley being arranged to constitute the fulcrum for the said projection, which is first forced into contact with the periphery of said pulley and operates as a brake to arrest the movement thereof and then rocks upon said periphery to lift the retaining device d against the stress of the spring d The retaining device (1 or, more strictly speaking, the arms (i which are connected with said retaining device, (there being two of such arms, one at each side of the clear the surface of the same.

.carrier,) are secured to the outside of a box or casing 0 which is adapted to contain the sheets supported upon the shelf 6, and the pivot-support 11 consists of a pin on the outside of the saidbox, cooperating with an elongated slot (Z there being such a slot in each of the arms d and a pin at each side of the box. This form of support affords the lost motion necessary for the rocking of the said arms on the pulleys to arrest the upward movement of the shelf and to release the top sheet, it being obvious that as soon asthe projection a has passed beyond the end of the arm d the stress of the spring (1 will draw the retaining device (1 downward until the top of the slot 01 rests upon the pin (2*, which then constitutes a fulcrum on which the arm is rocked to lift it out of contact with the pulley and release the support 0, so that the sheet which is then at the top takes the place of that which has been previously pulled ofi. The 'said arms 01 are herein shown as formed integral with each other, being curved upward to form inclined surfaces for engagoment with the pins a and thence downward and across the face of the cylinder, the downward extension being sufficiently long to have the part which extends across the cylinder The rear ends of said arms above-the slot (1 are connected toget-her by means of a cross-piece (1 to which I is directlyconnected the retaining device d.

shown, so that the surface of the carrier To prevent the pressure from being lowered by leaving the inlets free to take in air prior to the time when they reach the sheets, the carrier a may be provided with a damper or shu'tter a, which, as shown in Fig. 2, consists of a stationar cover or shutter, which lies along the inner wall of the chamber a, the saidshutter terminating at a point adjacent to the feeding device, so that the air is not free to enter until an inlet reachcs the pile of sheets, one of which sheets is then immediately sucked up and caused to close the inlet as fast as it advances in the manner above described. The same shutter maybe continued rearward along the inner wall of the chamber to a point where it is desired to remove the sheet from the carrier, so thatit will then constitute a cut-off to immediately relieve the external pressure and allow the sheet to be easily removed. I

The inlets a are preferably arranged as where, the said inlets occur projects beyond the main surface thereof, it being obvious sheet may be are inclined, as shown, so that the piece of rubber can bemompressed into the space be tween said flanges, where it will be held by its own elasticity.

As shown in Fig. 4, there are two pulleys c, cords c, weights 0 &e., one at each side of the box a", the operation of the parts at each side of the box being the same, so that in the foregoing description these parts have been re ferred to in the singular instead of the plural to render the description more clear. The box 0 is preferably the same in horizontal sectional shape and size as that of the sheets to be operated upon and may be provided with a cover 0, adapted to slide into place, and when the device is in operation the said cover ispreferably arranged, as shown, to overlie the free edge of the sheets, so as to keep the pile substantially fiat.

In another application, filed April 8, 1897, Serial No. 631,206, I have shown and described a machine for applying labels to cans, bottles, and the like, in which the feed device forming the subject of the present invention is utilized as an element. It is obvious, however, that any means desired may be used for picking the sheets from the carrier, and in some instances even it might be of value to employ the carrier as a conveyer to simply pick up the sheets one by one and convey them to another place, where they may be dropped by simply closing the openings, so that the external pressure is relieved.

It is not intended to limit the invention to the specific construction hercinshown and described, since modifications may obviously be made without departing tion.

I claim- 1. An apparatus for feeding sheets of paper from a pile of such sheets, comprising a sheetpicker into cont-act with which the top sheet from the invenis adapted to he forced by -atmospheric pressure, and means for producing a change of positiouof said sheet-picker relative to the part of said top sheet which is acted upon by such pressure, while such aciiou is going on,

to thereby progressively pic up said sheet and separate it from the sheet below, substantially as described.

2. The combination with a sheet-picker into contact with which 'a sheet is adapted to be forced. by atmospheric pressure; of a support for a pile of sheets; a retaining device to holda portion of the. top sheet stationary with relation. toftheszapporm means for pro ducing a change of position of said sheetpicker relative to said support and to that part of the top sheet which is being acted upon by such pressure whereby said sheetpicker and said top sheetare caused to travel one past the other to progressively subject the sheet to atmospheric pressure; and means for subsequently releasing the portion acted upon by the said retaining device, substantially as described.

In a sheet-feeding device, the combination with an exhausted chamber having an inlet in awall thereof, of a support for the sheets, means for producinga relative move-' ment of said chamber and said support whereby the sheets are brought to a position to be acted upon by atmospheric pressure at the chamber-inlet, a retaining device for the sheets adapted to engage and hold one portion of the sheet whileanother portion thereof is drawn into cc .itact with the wall of the chamber, means for pressing said support to ward said retaining device, and means for relcasing the sheet from said retaining device after that portion of the sheet 'vvhich is not held by said device has been drawn into contact with the wall of the chamber, and for simultaneously preventing the movement of the support toward the retaining device, substantially as described.

4. In a sheet-feeding device, the combination with an exhausted chamber having an inlet in a Wall thereof; of ,a support for a pile of sheets arranged to support the pile so that the top sheet thereof is adjacent to but wholly out of contact with the wall of said chamber where the said inlet is situated; a retaining device to hold a portion only of the top sheet stationary with relation to the said support, the remainder of the sheet being free to move into contact with the wall oi the chamber at the inlet aforesaid; and means for producing, a movement of one of said parts past the other whereby the exhaustchamber and that part of the sheet drawn into contact therewith have a movement one f past the other, so that the sheet is progressivelyactcd upon by pressure at the inlet and that portion of the sheet not held by the retaining device progressively picked up into contact with the chamber over the in let the re to, substantially as described.

5. In a slicct-t'emling device, the -.7-\unbination with a trawling carrier. comprising;- a rotatable dr-um from which the air is part tally exhausted, said drum being provided with one or more inlets, of a sheet-supportadjacent to said drum, means for rotating said drum to cause the inlets to travel past said support, means for moving said support toward the all of the druin,'a retaining device for the sheets on said support to retain a portion of the top sheet while another portion thereof is being drawn into contact with the wall of the drum, a stop or projection connected with said drum and adapted in the movement thereof to engage the said retainiug device and cause itto release the top 1 sheet, and means whereby the movement of.

tion with the traveling carrier comprising a rotatable drum from which the air is exhaustinlets, of a sheet-support adjacent to said shutter terminating at a point adjacent to the sheet-support, a portion only of the sheet stationary with relation to the said support, the remainder of the sheet being free to move into contact with the drum at the inlet, means for rotating said drum to cause the inlets to travel past the surface of the sheet which is drawninto contact therewith, but prevented by said retaining device from being carried along thereby; and mca us for subsequently operating the retaining device to release the sheet, substantially as described. I

7. In a sheet-fceding device, the combination with an exhausted chamber having an inlet in the wall thereof, of a support for a pile of sheets arranged to support the pile so wall of said chmnbcr where the said inlet is situated, a retaining device to hold a portion only of the top sheetstationary with relation to said support, the remai der treet bein free to move into contact with the wall of said chamber at the inlet, means for prothat part of the sheet which is drawn into con-' tact therewith have a movement one past the other so that the sheet is progressively picked up by atmospheric pressure at the inlet; and

:scr-ioot. having a loose pivotal contion from said presser-foot adjacent to said pulley, means for prod ncing arelative movement of the chamberand t e shrub-support, and a tripping projection adapted to engage with the pulley, whereby said arm is rocked on the pulley as-a fulcrum, to lift the presserof the pulley and check the movement of the support which would otherwise result, substantially as described.

I) In a sheet-feeding device, the support a,

drum, a stationary shutter for the inlet, said a retaining device for holding the surface of a sheet on the support;-

footand at the same time to prevent rotation 6. In a sheet-feeding device the combinaed, said drum hcin g provided with one o'rniore that the top sheet thereof is adjacent to the IOO ducing a movement of one of said parts past the other whereby the exhaust-chamber and i means for closing the said inlet up to the time ncction with said support, an arm or projec said arm and move the same into engagement weight? and pulley gahd the preser-footd tesfi nieny whereofI have signed having an elongated slot 01 adapted. to engage name to this specification-in the presence of projections 01" pins to support said preesertwo subscribing witnesses. foot, the spring 11 whereby said presser-foot a {I M. BLAISDELL.

' 5 is normally pressed toward aid support, and With eases: v

. vtluearmd overlying said pulley, substantially H. J. LIVERMORE, as described. 1 y MARY 1E, MARQNEY. 

